1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal with an integrated camera, and more particularly, to a mobile communication terminal with an integrated camera having multidirectional adjusting capabilities.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, mobile communication terminals include cellular phones or Personal Communication Systems (PCS) having wireless communication capabilities. As the need for video/image communication emerges along with voice communication, several types of mobile communication terminals with an integrated photographic apparatus have been suggested to satisfy this demand.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional mobile terminal is shown with a camera mounted on the terminal. The mobile terminal comprises a main folder 10, a subfolder 20, a hinge connection element 30 for pivotally connecting the folders 10 and 20, which are to be opened at a predetermined angle, and a digital camera 40 mounted on the hinge connection element. The digital camera 40 is fixedly mounted on a right or left hinge portion of the main folder 10 or a hinge portion of the subfolder 20. A lens 41 of the digital camera 40 is directed towards a subject to be photographed. An image of the subject is reproduced on a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel 21.
Referring to FIG. 3, the lens 41 is enclosed within the digital camera 40 by a lens holder in which a light aperture 42 is formed. A transparent filter 44 is disposed in front of the lens 41, thereby protecting the lens without preventing light from passing through the lens. An image sensor 45 is disposed behind the lens 41 to convert incident optical signals from the lens 41 to electrical signals. In addition, other electronic parts are disposed within the digital camera 40. Furthermore, a shutter button 46 is provided at one side of the main folder in the mobile phone 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to operate the camera 40.
When photographing subjects with a conventional mobile terminal 1 having a camera mounted on the terminal, the mode of the mobile phone is converted into a digital camera mode by means of a mode conversion (not shown). Next, the user directs the lens 41 to the subject and sets the imaging angle and focus upon viewing the image displayed on the LCD panel 21. Afterwards, the user photographs the image by pushing the shutter button 46 and stores the image as image data to a memory device in the mobile phone 1. The user may then perform various desired operations such as reproducing, editing, transmitting and deleting operations on the image data.
However, in this conventional mobile terminal 1 having a camera mounted on the terminal, it may be inconvenient for a user to correctly set the imaging angle in some photographing environments. The lens 41 of the digital camera and the screen of the liquid crystal display panel are fixedly directed to the subject and, in some cases, the user himself when the mobile phone 1 is opened. Thus, when a user photographs a particular object, the user must tilt the lens 41 and the display panel in the direction of the object being photographed. Consequently, the position and angle of the screen 21 of the LCD panel relative to the user is altered along with the position and angle of the lens 41. This makes it inconvenient and difficult for the user to correctly see the image displayed on the LCD panel 21.
Accordingly, a solution is needed to allow or facilitate a user's viewing the display while photographing an object when using a mobile communication terminal with an integrated camera.